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Sunday, March 30, 2014

Janet and I had the pleasure of attending this yearly event these past few days. Gary Con is special to me because, of course, it connects directly with Gary Gygax and it is just outside Lake Geneva, but also because many of my friends and colleagues are present as well. Though it is growing every year, this event has retained a certain friendliness and personality that much larger venues can no longer hope to offer. Where else would you be able to encounter this many former TSR folk without actually trying? The cocktail party Saturday night was a success and new familiar faces were there as well. The high point for me was spending some good time with an old friend whom I hadn't seen for thirty years: Merle Rasmussen, the designer of the original Top Secret game. Merle left TSR in 1984, about a year after I started there. Although he enjoyed a long and fruitful career in his native Iowa (and still does), he connected recently with Jayson Elliott at (new) TSR/Gygax Magazine and Luke Gygax. I was also very pleased to chat with Betty Elmore whom I hadn't seen for almost as long. Many other friendly faces haunted the halls of Geneva Ridge that cold, crisp evening. Sorry I didn't get everybody. All good times must come to an end, so I'll post my pictures here for your enjoyment . . . and get back to work on my current project.

Friday, March 7, 2014

Since
last February, the first 63 pages have already gone through the editing
process with Karen S. Conlin. This includes the main story, "In
Stranger Skies," the overview of Calidar's universe (the planets, the
moons, the races, and the gods), and the world of Calidar (the
continents, the world soul, the Dread Lands, the Great Caldera, an
overview of the realms, and a detailed historical timeline).

Meanwhile,
writing continued for the Kingdom of Meryath gazetteer: its history,
geography, economy, diplomacy, armies, internal politics, the culture of
heroes, calendar, holidays, the NPC section (Heroes of the Star Phoenix and Heroes of Meryath), and the Guilds and Brotherhoods section.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Intended to be adaptable to leading fantasy role-playing games, Calidar does not feature a specific set of mechanics.
Storytelling, flavor, and background information are the main goals.
Guidelines presented here should nonetheless help referees make
decisions on how best to render heroes and monsters in their game
systems. Though a rating system is provided below, the intended game
system’s mechanics should take precedence. Game masters should use their
best judgement as regards style vs. accuracy.

This preview is posted here ostensibly to garner important feedback
as to what you feel is missing, impractical, or unclear from a gaming
standpoint. As promised in Calidar’s Kickstarter, a section in the final
product will provide actual stats and mechanics for Pathfinder to
better translate NPCs, monsters, equipment, and spells.

Ranks and Toughness: There are four general career
paths in the World of Calidar which are independent from races—warriors
(W), priors (P), mages (M), and rogues (R). Though uncommon, heroes with
multiple professions are allowable. How far heroes progress along their
career paths is measured in Ranks ranging from 1 to 100—one being a
novice and 100 the highest that can be achieved. For example: for a Rank
50 hero of Calidar (Rk50) in a game where 30 is considered the top end,
15 would be the resulting career experience. Monsters unique to Calidar
are treated in the same manner. Profession and rank abbreviations can
be combined; for example W10 designates a rank 10 warrior.

Creatures and objects (such as ships and structures) have an innate
capacity to sustain damage, which is labeled here as Toughness (Tn).
Since they are often connected with heroes’ or monsters’ Ranks, Tn
scores only address any randomness involved in the intended game’s
mechanics. For example: Tn50 refers to an average score.

I
grew up in France (mostly), England, Morocco, Washington DC, and Texas. I speak mostly French and English, with a little Spanish, Portuguese, and German. Returning to Nice for my education, I graduated from the lycée hotelier in 1977; I got passionately interested in wargames when I was attending the Lycée ... primarily in Avalon Hill games like Kriegspiel, Luftwaffe, Third Reich, and Panzer Leader
— the classics. There were, of course, no French editions of these
games at the time, so I had to learn the American versions. I loved to travel, so I studied hotel management and worked as a concierge in both France and California.

While living in San Francisco I discovered the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set, and when I returned to Paris I joined my first regular Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) group. I started writing articles on D&D and AD&D for French gaming magazine Casus Belli, and there learned that TSR
was looking for someone to translate the games into French. Well, I
spoke and wrote both languages, and I knew the games, so a request reached Gary Gygax.
By a coincidence, he was just about to come to Paris on business, and
so we set up a meeting. I must have done OK, because he offered me the
job. After a few months of doing translation work in Nice, TSR requested I move to the home office in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. For a sun-loving Mediterranean like me, Wisconsin in February was a bit of a shock.

After working for two years as a translator, I transferred to TSR's Games Division in July
1985 as an Acquisitions Coordinator, in charge of contracting
freelance writers. I also did game design, including adventure
modules CM7, Tree of Life; M1, Into the Maelstrom; and co-authorship of DL12, Dragons of Faith.

I worked on a number of products for the basic Dungeons & Dragons game, including writing the "Voyage of the Princess Ark" series for Dragon magazine, a monthly feature that lasted about three years, as well as other products for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game. I was the Basic D&D line Product Manager for years, during which the beloved D&D Gazetteers and the Rules Cyclopedia were published. I also worked at TSR as the director of production planning and head of games acquisitions.

My son Noel came to this world when TSR went bankrupt. One of the outcomes of the happy event in my life was that I could not follow my colleagues to Renton, Wa, at WotC, which had salvaged most of TSR's creative team. My writing years went on hiatus while I explored other avenues. After some time at US Web near Milwaukee and United Airlines at O'Hare, I'm now back in Wisconsin to re-invent myself and do what I really want to do! This now includes the creation of the World of Calidar.